Trump calls Iran war ‘excursion’ that will be done ‘very soon’ 

President Trump on Monday described the war against Iran as an “excursion” that would be over soon, as the president contends with spiking oil prices, troop casualties, allies under attack and low support among the American public. 

“This was just an excursion into something that had to be done. We’re getting very close to finishing that too,” Trump said during a press conference on the sidelines of the House Republican retreat at the president’s hotel in Miami, Florida. 

Trump’s remarks come days after he declared that he would only accept “unconditional surrender” from Iran’s leaders. On Monday, Trump said military action would end “very soon” but would take more than a few days. 

At least eight U.S. troops have been killed in the fighting so far. When asked how many war casualties the president is prepared to endure, Trump said the families of the fallen told him to “finish the job sir, please finish the job.” 

Trump’s remarks come as the U.S. war against Iran enters its second week, with oil prices reaching about $100 a barrel. Trump has made lowering energy prices in the U.S. a hallmark of his second term, and he said the U.S. is taking action to stabilize the market.

He warned Iran against disrupting exports by threatening attacks on targets that are “easy” to hit, but “devastating.” Trump suggested electricity production as one of the targets.

“We’ve left some of the most important targets for later. In case we need to do it,” Trump said. 

“If we hit them, it’s going to take many years for them to be rebuilt, having to do with electricity production and many other things.”

Trump also said the U.S. is offering political risk insurance to any tankers operating in the Gulf, and he said “perhaps” the U.S. military could escort the ships through key waterways blocked by the threat of Iranian attack. 

Trump referenced his decision to allow India to buy sanctioned Russian oil for up to a month, saying the reprieve on sanctions is aimed at lowering prices. Critics says that harms U.S. leverage on Russia to end its war against Ukraine.

Trump also spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, describing it as a “good” conversation and saying the Russian leader wants to be “constructive” in the Middle East. Trump was not asked about reports that Russia is providing Iran intelligence to target U.S. troops.

“We had a very good talk and he wants to be very constructive,” Trump said. 

Still, the president’s remarks seemed to signal a major wind-down to a large-scale military operation that had expansive aims when launched on Feb. 28. 

An estimated half of surveyed Americans oppose U.S. military intervention in Iran, according to an NPR/PBS/Maris poll conducted last week, although 84 percent of Republicans support the military action. 

Trump has given a wide variety of war objectives, to include overthrowing the Islamic Republic, ensuring Iran can never obtain a nuclear weapon, eliminating its naval force, destroying its capabilities to launch ballistic missiles and ending its ability to project power through terrorist proxies across the Middle East. 

Last week, Trump said that he wanted to have a hand in choosing the next Iranian leader after the U.S.-Israeli strikes took out the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 

On Monday, Trump said he was disappointed in the election of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the previous supreme leader. Trump said his preference is to keep the Islamic Republic intact, with a leader from inside the system who will work with the United States, similar to Venezuela. 

Trump has repeatedly praised the U.S. intervention in Venezuela and floated it as a model for intervention in other countries, where the U.S. effects a change in policies from the regime but does not change authoritarian, repressive regimes.

Trump again on Monday praised Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodríguez, who assumed power after the U.S. captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on drug charges, crediting her with being a “great partner” in giving U.S. access to the country’s oil and gas fields. 

“I like the idea of internal because it works well, I think we’ve proven that so far in Venezuela,” Trump said. 

But Iran is telegraphing that it is prepared for a long war with the U.S., with a top official to the supreme leader telling CNN that Tehran is prepared to keep attacking Gulf countries allied with the U.S. to exact economic pain, in an interview published Monday. 

“I don’t see any room for diplomacy anymore. Because Donald Trump had been deceiving others and not keeping with his promises, and we experienced this in two times of negotiations — that while we were engaged in negotiation, they struck us,” Kamal Kharazi, foreign policy adviser to the office of the supreme leader, told CNN.

“There’s no room unless the economic pressure would be built up to the extent that other countries would intervene to guarantee [the] termination of aggression of Americans and Israelis against Iran,” Kharazi said.

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